554 Closing Celebration

The hall is dark except for a wisp of light that picks out a veiled dancer. A harp beckons the undulating dancer toward the chalice and a flame is born. The harpist is Christina Tourin, and the liturgical dancer is Lisa Marie Napoli.

The full-stage lights reveal the GA Choir and the UUMN Children's Honor Choir, several-hundred singers filling the stage. Bart Bradfield directed the GA Choir in music by Handel, from Godspell and The Gospel Mass, and the chant "The Earth, the Air, the Fire, the Water."

Nick Page held us spellbound as he guided the children, dressed in yellow and black, through a diverse medley. "Courage" by Bob Blue brought a standing ovation. The words in children's voices were especially poignant:

"Diane is a girl that I know
She's strange like she doesn't belong
I don't mean to say that that's wrong
We don't like to be with her though." Nick Page directs the Children's Honor Choir

So no one invited Diane.
"… I acted like nothing was wrong
When I saw Diane start to cry."

But later:
"We studied what people have done
With gas chamber, bomber and gun"

Until at the end of the song:
"I promise to do what I can
To not let it happen again
...I'll start by inviting Diane."

Olga Loya entranced us with stories. Under her spell, with one heart and mind we all succeeded in lifting the sky. We applauded the grandfather clock's resolve in persevering one tick at a time. And we were moved by her story of growing up in East Los Angeles. "I didn't know I had an accent; I was ashamed". In the end she concluded, "You must tell your stories or they will die. See, the world does go in a circle."

The Mountain Quartet evoked the misery of the civil war, intertwining songs of peace with the well-known song written by Unitarian E.H. Sears, "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear." In "It Must Be Today" composer Shelly Jackson Denham was joined by the other Mountain Quartet members, Ian Denham, Jane Warth, and Tom Warth. Finally, they lead the congregation in singing "There Is More Love Somewhere." The Mountain Quartet is based at The Mountain UU camp and conference center in North Carolina.

The Fulfilling the Promise Committee described how "we are a community rejoicing in our diversity" and urged us to "be visible by putting our faith into action."

The irresistible charm of the Children's Honor Choir persuaded the congregation to join in singing:

The Children's Honor Choir This little piggy believes in God, and
This little piggy believes in the goddess, and
This little piggy believes in multiple deities!

The song "All the Nations Love Banana" was even more popular and had young-in-spirit members of the congregation dancing in the aisles while the Children's Honor Choir told us exactly which nations "love banana." The final song, "Golden Thread" by Pete Seeger, wove the children's voices in a golden tapestry against the backdrop of the adult choir.

In his closing words, UUA president John Buehrens invited us to "step back and take the longer view." "We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We may never see the end results. We are prophets of a future not our own."

The childrens' and adult choirs streamed off the stage side by side and into the congregation singing the South African folksong "Siyahamba" or "We Are Dancing in the Light of God" and led the congregation in a rousing finale. The final message on the screens invited us to GA 2001 in Cleveland, Ohio. We'll be there!

Nick Page (Director, Childrens Honor Choir) worked as a conductor with The Reverend Christopher Moore and The Chicago Children's Choir He now lives in Boston.

Susan Snyder (Accompanist, Children's Honor Choir) is from Nashville, Tennessee

Christina Tourin (Harpist) divides her time between Mount Laguna California and Buckfield, Maine. She has produced ten recordings of harp music.

Lisa Marie Napoli (Liturgical Dancer) is a Ph.D. student at Indiana University in Bloomington.

Bart Bradfield (Director, General Assembly Choir) is Director of Music at the Unitarian Church of Evanston, Illinois.

Barbara Wagner (Accompanist, General Assembly Choir) is the minister of music at the UU Church in Buffalo, New York.

Olga Loya (Storyteller) is a native of Southern California now living in San Jose. She is the author of a bilingual collection of stories and tours throughout the United States as a professional storyteller

The Mountain Quartet is based at the Mountain Camp and Conference Center near Highlands, North Carolina. Members of the quartet are:

The Fulfilling the Promise Committee is in the process of asking fundamental questions about the core values of our Unitarian Universalist faith.

The Reverend John Buehrens is the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Contributors to the Children's Honor Choir
UUA General Assembly 2000, Nashville, TN

Beth Armstrong	Marjorie Gelbin	Diana Pavao
Liz Barrett	Kristin Leigh Grassel	Lisa Parto-Crosby
Andrea Barsevick	Jennifer Hamel	Helen Pickett
Tod Bell	Victoria Hammel	Judy Pickett
Madelyn E. Campbell	Jennifer Hampshire	Eleanor Porter
Susan Clark	Kate Harrison	Betty Bobo Seiden
Barbara A. Cornell	Anne E. Johnson	Laura M. Shemick
Sue Creed	Dianne Kepsar	Kimberly Spencer
Karen Darr	Caroline Machl	Beth Sprinkle
Viki DuMez	Beth Malmgren	Christina Tourin
Kay Dunn	Virginia Margerum	Roberta Wallis
Irene Felsman	Bonnie Martin	Alice Weeks
Sylvia Forsyth	Vanessa Miller	Barbara Wells
Dawn Frase	Eileen Moremen	Karen Wells
Fran Gebuhr	Janet R. Nortrom

Joy Atkinson	Lois M. Hitchcock	Yvonne Rochon
Rosemary Bazuzi	Marty Hoffman	Kathy Scarpaci
Mimi Bornstein-Doble	Patty Jantho	Rebecca Scott
Ruth Bruns	Irene Johnson	Arline Senft
Cathy Cartwright	Sarah Dan Jones	Carole Sheatt
Eva Close	Barbara Kreek	Vicki Silberstein
Cathy Cohen	Jean Larson	Caroline Simonson
Kathy Converse	Linda Leon	loan Smalley
Emily Curie	Carol Ann Maciel	Anne Staley
Mary Freed	Julie Margerum-Leys	Liz Stevens
Nancy Fuchs	Kate Marrs	Patricia R. Talbot
Helene Gersuny	Royalene Millard	Jacoline Troupe
Joyce I Gilbert	Kim Miner	Sarah Watts
Kira Gray	Claire Morgen	Kay Westlie
Susan Grubb	Virginia Phillips	Margaret White
Judith Halseth	Barb Pitman	Lil Woolf
Marianne Hill	Cat Prindle	Alma Woods
Susan Hill	Linda Ramsey	Evelyn Rich

Keith Arnold	V. Langston-Kingsley	Rudy Sprinkle
Janice Marie Johnson	Allan Stern	Rosemary Lester
Bob Stone	Ken Damon	Jim McGuigan
Mike Drayton	Leslie Backus	Lee Thomas
Catherine Ann Taylor	Jim Moskin	Linda Thompson
Paul Gibb	Mary Ellen Olcott	Erv Young
Dave Keller	Wendell Putney	Jason Shelton
Tom Kemble

Joe Allison	Pete Fontneau	Tim Miller
John Ford	John Norris	Bryan Barrett
Dave Calvert	Charles Fater	Lorring Prosser
Don Campbell	Chelso Frescura	James Schmeltzer
Thomas Chase	George Fuchs	Bob Smith
Byron Dann	Bob Hurst	Lenard Starks
Mark Evens	Rusty Kaplan	Graham Stevens
Justin Kreek